Advanced Reactor Deployment Map

Multiple advanced reactor developers have announced domestic demonstration projects to be built in the 2020s. These nuclear reactors will provide the licensing, construction, and operational basis for rapid commercial expansion of advanced nuclear energy in the late 2020s and early 2030s. The DOE’s flagship nuclear projects include the two major Advanced Reactor Demonstration Project (ARDP) winners, X-energy and TerraPower. X-energy will build four Xe-100 reactors near the Columbia Nuclear Generating Station in Richland, Washington and TerraPower will build their Natrium reactor at a retiring coal facility in Kemmerer, Wyoming. Other projects supported by the DOE are planned for construction at the Idaho National Laboratory, including the NuScale Carbon Free Power Project and demonstration microreactors for Oklo and BWXT. Kairos Power and Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation (USNC) have both announced plans for construction and operation of test reactors in preparation for a commercial power reactor. The first Kairos reactor will be sited near the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the first USNC reactor will be sited at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. GE-Hitachi announced commercial partnerships to deploy the BWRX-300 reactor technology with the Tennessee Valley Authority at the Clinch River Site in Tennessee and Ontario Power Generation at the Darlington site in Canada.

Technology, business, and regulatory lessons learned from first-of-a-kind (FOAK) projects will facilitate lower costs and shorter construction timelines for subsequent nth-of-a-kind (NOAK) reactors due to wide-scale deployment and technological learning. Utilities and other customers that gain early experience with FOAK or early NOAK projects will be in competitive positions to become technology leaders. For more information about advanced reactor deployment, please contact vibarrajr@nuclearinnovationalliance.org.